Tony Stark treaded carefully as he traversed the clutter of construction. Drill in hand he nimbly sidestepped a gaping hole in the floor and dodged an incoming arm-robot which bore a massive coffee maker in its grip. A similar model wheeled up beside him as he walked and stubbornly thrust a clipboard in his face.

"Sir, these safety guidelines await your-"

Tony swatted the arm away and walked faster. "Leave me alone, Armold." He quibbled distractedly, reaching the end of a long hallway. Plaster dust sprinkled his shoulders as he made a sharp left turn toward the half-completed kitchen, where several arm-bots were assembling an oven.

"There you are." He muttered once he was face-to-face with an artsy rendering of himself in his Iron Man suit. Or at least, knee to face, since the print was on the floor, leaning against the wall. Tony took the framed print in his hands and held it up, sizing it for hanging. He went to work with his drill, humming the Jeopardy theme quietly. Soon the irritatingly safety obsessed robot returned, prodding him in the back of the leg.

"Sir, I really must insist-"

Tony whirled around and cut the robot's sentence short with a brandish of his drill. "I'll still donate you to college students." He hissed irritably. "Leave me to drill in peace."

Armold wheeled off rapidly in surrender, nearly knocking over Pepper in the process.

"Do you get a rise out of threatening your arm-bots?" she inquired mildly, ignoring the fleeing robot.

Tony went back to hanging the picture. "I need to bug someone-would you rather it was you?" he called over his drilling.

Pepper sighed. "Just don't give away all the robots or this place will never be done. Why don't you hire some people to help you?"

"No one knows about this except you," Tony paused, stepping back to observe his work, "and me." He added, straightening the print.

"Even Steve and Natasha? They're training the new recruits next door."

Tony shrugged and placed his drill on the counter, which was littered with half-assembled appliances and construction tools. "They'll find out what I've done soon enough. I'm gonna have this place done in a week."

Pepper raised her eyebrows but didn't reply.

"Now why doesn't Ms. Potts have a drink in her hand? This is why I have failed as a robot designer." Tony shouted passionately. "You- Armiana, get over here!"

An arm-robot who had been painting the kitchen wall with a roller clacked its claw at Tony and wheeled off to the gargantuan fridge, returning with a pair of bright blue martinis.

Pepper accepted the drink graciously, and turned her gaze back to Tony. "If you are planning to keep this place a secret forever, you will utterly fail, considering it's attached to the rest of the new Avengers HQ, which is manned by almost a hundred staff."

"All of whom are professional secret keepers."

"Word is bound to get out. Everyone thought you were out of the picture, so how will you explain your return to the HQ and your 'big idea'? How will you get everyone to come back?" Pepper questioned seriously, taking a seat on a bar stool. "God knows how on Earth you are going to find Thor and Bruce."

Tony smiled knowingly and raised his arms in a gesture to their surroundings. "Just look at this place! It's fantabulous. Like our own personal resort! They will be begging to come." he said grandly, sweeping his gaze out across the chaos of construction. As he watched, a pair of robots fell off a tall ledge of scaffolding with a crash.

Pepper winced at the noise but once again felt it best not to argue with Tony's madness. If one thing was certain, it was that whatever Tony had designed would be quite lavish indeed.

But will it bring him to forgive himself for creating Ultron? Pepper thought. Or more importantly, will it bring the others to forgive him in return?

At that thought, Pepper rose from her seat and bid Tony farewell, deciding that it was time to do her part, and start the search for Thor.

I wonder if Tony has Jane's number...she wondered as she headed out of the construction zone and back into the main part of the Avengers headquarters. Distantly audible was Tony, who had returned to shouting at the arm-bots.